Booted by Wikipedia

It's a sad day when one of Britain's top selling newspapers gets told by the on-line encyclopedia

Wikipedia to clear out their desk and leave the premises. The Daily Mail has been told that it can be no longer be used as a reliable source although Whispers feels quite a few British tabloids could well receive the same treatment.
We here are quite fond of the Mail even if they do nick the odd story from us. We've also made a habit of posting our regular Daily Mail Fails such as this ripper when they reported on the sad death of comedienne Tracey Ullman's mother. In the photo caption they claimed (in several editions) that the lady accompanying Ullman was her mother when in fact it was Australian actress Nell Campbell of Rocky Horror Film fame. The fact both women appeared to be of similar age seems to have eluded the editor.
Alas the curse of Daily Mail Fail has struck again on the very day they get their marching orders from Wikipedia.

 In this story about the sad death of British society identity Tara Palmer -Tomkinson they make some strange mistakes, firstly claiming Palmer-Tomkinson's body had been discovered by her "Portuguese cleaner" and then just a paragraph later claiming her body had been discovered by a 'friend'.
Mind you, perhaps her Portuguese maid was a close friend.

Still, who are we to cast stones. There's probably a blog somewhere compiling some of our corkers.

It's A Girl !..but not a Princess yet

Not long ago we chided a Sydney columnist for gushing that Royalty, in the form of horse loving Zara Phillips, had attended the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Zara is a commoner as are all children born to those with Royal titles unless HM The Queen confers titles upon them.
Of course Her Maj usually does as a matter of course unless the parents decide otherwise as in Zara's case where her parents HH Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips decided to turn down the offer.
While a colonial writer and even a New York paper (as out pic shows) may be forgiven for making a common mistake, it's unacceptable for British newspapers who have also elevated the Duchess & Duke of Cambridge's newly born daughter to Princess status when, in reality she is a commoner at this stage. Talk about slack fact checking!.
Nothing is guaranteed in the world of Royalty where they ( and their handlers / courtiers) more than anyone judge the mood of the general public.
 Kate and William may just decide to accept no title for the new bub,
Time will tell but I'm sure she's a little princess in their eyes.


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Fairfax Fail : The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have both failed in the fact checking
department. Are we being pedantic?. I think not as this indicates how journalists these days fail to do the most basic fact checking.
Calling the new baby a "princess" is simply wrong until the Monarch confers a title upon her.
In fact she will not even strictly be a 'royal' unless she is given a peerage as well which is why her parents were created the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge which is also why her grandfather Prince Phillip was created the Duke of Edinburgh before he married the Queen so that she would not be marrying a commoner.
Last month with such sloppy fact-checking we had 2 large publishers killing of Australian actress Nell Campbell on the claim she was comedienne Tracey Ullman's mother.
# Even Whispers is less than perfect. We did forget that the recently born and now (created by the Monarch of Great Britain) Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Cambridge was a Lady from the word go. Being the daughter of a Duke & Duchess she is entitled to that title.
Critics again have attacked me for being pedantic which is nonsense. British titles are a powerful legal entity crafted over centuries of law making. The new Royal Princess could one day also be the Queen of Australia. We aren't a Republic yet (if ever) and it's sad that major media outlets in this country can display such ignorance. What other mistakes are they making?
It's remarkable that newspapers that lived and breathed the late princess Diana have ignored the fact that she felt the cruelest blow to her after divorcing the future King, Prince Charles was losing her Royal status.

Lara Bingle Nude & the Duchess of Cambridge

For some odd reason 'Lara Bingle nude' is a search term we encounter here at the Shuttle almost every day that leads excited readers to our pages.

So here are the latest shots of the lady as she poses for the next issue of Cleo Magazine.
The last time we encountered the lovely Lara was at a party in Oxford Street as she arrived and we were leaving. Her strident manager quickly said "no photos , no photos please" as we lifted our smartphone to call for a taxi.
Still it's the thought that counts.












 Here is a snap of the Duchess of Cambridge's expensive pumps after walking the red dirt at Uluru.
An excuse to introduce an article : The Golden Era of ‘Fashion Blogging’ Is Over.

Royal Randwick

There is every chance Prince William and Princess Kate (or Katie as the kids are calling her) will attend the Easter Carnival today at Royal Randwick.
This is the first chance the public will have to see the amazing new $150M pavilion that dwarfs the old Member's Stand.

On show for the young and hip is The Stables, a private member's club that should be a much sought after venue. Membership is rumoured to be $2000 a year but this is one of the nicest clubs we have been in as we discovered at a recent launch party. Lots of expensive paneled walls, billiard rooms and private booths and rooms, a Moet & Chandon Bar and 2 sensational balconies, one looking over the mounting ring and one with a sensational view of the race track. The Stables is the brainchild of bar and restaurant mogul John Duncan - pictured right with wife Angela - (he's the nephew of the actress Carmen Duncan) and ex-partner of Fraser Short. Together they opened some of Sydney's smartest nite spots like Surry Hill's Winery before going their separate ways last year
Looks like a winner to us.

The world's most glamorous bookie Tom Waterhouse left joined other glam guests

Bar heaven- chilled Moet

view of the race course and below the mounting ring

'Queen of One's Own Realm'

We like to think that would be the occupation that the new Prince of Cambridge's Great Granny would put down

should she be asked to fill in a form like the one pictured here: Prince George's birth certificate.

What is in store for the new heir to the British (and Australian) throne ?. For expert advice we turn to the Astrologer of choice Victor Olliver, Britain's rising star of the stars :
"Born on 22 July 2013 , at 4.24pm (London), Prince George is a ‘watery’ fellow – he will be hypersensitive, compassionate, intuitive if not psychic, possibly artistic, temperamental and abundantly focused on the people.                                                                                     
If you want to know whom he most resembles, tremble not (too much) if I say that he will be a cross between grandparents Charles and the late Diana. Just about a Cancerian (Diana), with one minute to spare, he has Scorpio (Charles) rising: prepare for a deliciously bumpy national ride as baby grows into manhood and courts controversy. Cool on the surface, he’ll try to disguise unusually intense feelings and reactions, the trigger for many battles with authority. But George will be both a valiant and lucky champion for the UK and an internationalist. And immensely popular, globally.
With his Venus on the same spot as regal fixed star Regulus at birth, he’s a Royal superstar of the 21st century." You can read more detail here.

For your own astrological outlook we suggest you check out Victor Olliver's new book at Amazon :
Victor Olliver’s Lifesurfing: Your Horoscope Forecast Guide 2014.
 It's currently No 1 on Amazon and there is a handy Kindle version available for $4.99.